


Trust

by Lilithangel



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-18
Updated: 2013-08-18
Packaged: 2017-12-23 21:36:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/931346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilithangel/pseuds/Lilithangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angelus is back with the family and trying to find his way. Earning their trust isn’t going to be easy and he’s just not sure if he can or should.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust

He used to think they would never change, that they couldn’t. Even after the gypsy forced the nightmare on him and he had no choice but to change he imagined them forever the same, but he was wrong.

Darla was as glorious as she always was but she no longer trusted him because she knew. Through the blood she knew there was a difference in him. They’d parted before over petty things or just to travel in different directions for different entertainments. This time the reunion had been strained and she could feel the weakness in his frame even if she didn’t know it was from feeding on four legged vermin. Her demon would stare out at him as if sensing he was more prey than predator and he was grateful that her deep seated distrust of men confused what it saw. She was colder with him as controlling as she had been when she first turned him but still unsure of him.

They had fought for dominance with words and hands until they had settled into something like what they had, but he knew she still didn’t trust him.

Drusilla hadn’t left him alone the first night but while her sing-song mutterings made little sense to the others Angelus knew she was close to the truth even if she didn’t know herself what that truth was. In the end Darla had ordered William, or Spike as he preferred, to take her out and find her something to eat. He was used to taking her attention from Spike but she went with him easily. She came back to his side when they returned replete with the blood of a child to beg him to dance with her.

He was her daddy and her devotion would always be his but even in her madness she knew he wasn’t the daddy that had left them and tracked her confusion in blood on her own flesh until Spike stopped her. It was Spike that stopped her; she no longer stopped every time at his word.

Spike had changed the most. The blood of a slayer had coloured his cheeks and not even Angelus’ snide remarks could remove the aura of confidence that gave him extra stature. Even after the blood faded the confidence in his choices stayed under the pressure of three elder vampires.

Their relationship had always been antagonistic but the shaping of the boy into the wild hunter that killed a slayer should have filled him with pride instead he felt regret and loss. Angelus knew he should also be pleased that behind the bluster and well-remembered bravado that hadn’t changed, he could see wariness and fear of loss. 

“Where’s Drusilla?” Angelus asked when the boy in question entered the room.

“Playing dress up with Darla,” Spike said. “They want to go to the theatre tonight. Darla has decreed a ladies night so unless you have plans it’s just you and I this evening.” The boy still looked to him and wanted his approval, deflating each time he declined to hunt and Angelus could hear the suggestion even though it wasn’t vocalised.

In the past they would have gone to a club or an opium den and Angelus knew he should make an effort to be normal. “I think we’ll stay in then,” he said instead, “a gentlemen’s night. You can bring me up to date with everything that has happened in my absence.”

For a short evening it was as if nothing had changed, there had been no gypsy campsite, no confusion and despair. Instead he was the Scourge of Europe with his protégée opposite him laughing and talking. If it had been a normal night he would have to knock Spike down a peg, keeping the status quo but Spike was a slayer of slayers now and deserved a moment too.

He didn’t really care what they had done without him but he wanted a chance to indulge in watching Spike’s animated features and forget about the crushing despair that was his lot now. He was warm and clean with access to blood without guilt a fine whiskey to enjoy as Spike regaled him with tales and he could pretend that nothing had changed.

As he basked in the moment he couldn’t know that Darla was bringing him a gift that would break the trust that was building and send him out into the cold again. And every time he saw Spike after that, as Angel replaced Angelus, the distance between them would grow, the trust broken completely until he acknowledged Spike’s own journey and offered his own trust back.

END


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